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Jeweler Harry Winston made only 55 Opus 3 watches, a seriously strange-looking timepiece. Six digital numbers in two rows appear within glass portholes that bubble out of rose-gold, platinum or bejeweled cases. This mechanical-digital watch is a Rubik's Cube of sorts: The first and third numbers of the horizontal top row of portholes indicate the hour, while the first and third digital shingles of the second row indicate the minutes. The second digits of both rows, when read vertically, tell the date.

Those who bought the Opus 3 in rose gold when the prototype was unveiled in 2003 paid $67,400. It took another seven years, however, before Harry Winston ironed out all the watch's technical complications, and when customers took delivery in 2010, rising gold prices and the hardening Swiss franc meant the last Opus 3 sold for $95,900.

Don't weep for the last buyer. This distinctive watch was created for Harry Winston by Vianney Halter, the revered horologist who won Switzerland's Best Watchmaker-Designer Prize of 2011. Penta recently found the watch listed at $220,000 on a watch-dealer's Website. Did the watch really double in value 17 months after its release? Hard to know. This is not exactly a liquid secondary market.

A spokesman for Harry Winston points out that the site in question hasn't posted pictures of the watch it's "selling," suggesting it doesn't actually have an Opus 3 in stock. Still, the $220,000 list price is an indication of the pent-up demand for the Opus 3.

The point of all this: Rarity and uniqueness are two key features that underpin the rising value of mechanical watches over time. So how do you find watches like that? Attending Baselworld 2012 in Switzerland, the jewelry and watch fair from March 8 to 15, is one way to keep your finger on the pulse of horology's latest novelties. A simpler way, however, is to turn to such reputable Web magazines as Uniquewatchguide.com or Ablogtoread.com for ideas and leads to unusual timepieces like the Opus 3.

Uniquewatchguide.com is the creation of Matthew Boston, a 45-year-old British computer animator living outside Tokyo. Boston earned a master's degree in computer art from San Francisco's Academy of Art University. After a Hollywood animator stint, he moved to Asia in 2000 to work on films, TV shows and video games.

Boston's passion for watches started on his 13th birthday when his father gave him a Casio embedded with a calculator and stop watch. In 2009, he launched Uniquewatchguide.com. Looking for a watch suggestive of 1950s Japanese robotics? His Website will steer you toward "Mr. Roboto," a $5,000 watch made by the Azimuth firm of Biel, Switzerland. Interested in building a collection of "transparent" watches? Boston's Website cherry-picks eight different models, ranging from the $2 million diamond-loaded MasterGraff Skeleton by the London-based Graff jeweler to the $110 Philippe Starck O-Ring made by America's Fossil.

Boston has a fine editorial eye, which is why we asked him to pick five watches that were the coolest, most striking he had ever reviewed. This British animator warns that he has a taste for Steampunk designs, an aesthetic inspired by the future as imagined by 19th-century visionaries like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. A lot of watches Boston profiles seem to practice the ethos of the Swiss watch brand, Cabestan, which states, "telling time is secondary to satisfying the human need for bold originality."

UPSIDE DOWN WATCH BY LUDOVIC BALLOUARD. At first glance, the Upside Down watch, by this Geneva-based "maverick watchmaker," appears to be a conventional wristwatch. Then the "surprise" kicks in. Only the current hour, marked by a small dot to guide the eye, is right-side up. All other numbers are in dyslexic mayhem, turning right-side up again only when their hour has arrived. A single hand indicates the minutes; seconds are represented by a small subsidiary dial. The transparent back panel reveals all the technical complications that make this watch possible. Boston: "It's a subtly unique watch that could be used as a formal dress piece." Prices: 49,000 Swiss francs ($53,000) in pink gold; Sfr 78,000 in platinum with diamonds.

FRÉDÉRIC JOUVENOT HELIOS. The young watchmaker Frédéric Jouvenot is backed by Archduke Carl Peter von Habsburg-Lothringen. Jouvenot's Helios watch, named after the Greek sun god, created 2011 buzz because of its 12 "sunbeams," spokes that not only stand for the hours, but also the path of the sun. As the day passes, the "sunbeams" change color. At midday, the sun's zenith, all the watch's sunbeams are golden; at midnight, black. Minutes are indicated by a central rotating disc. "A clever way of indicating time and day," says Boston. The Helios, limited to 288 pieces in the titanium version, sells for 47,800 euros ($62,000) at authorized dealers.

THE DEVON TREAD 1. This electromechanical watch caught a lot of attention in 2010, not just because of its "conveyor belt" look, but because it turned Swiss watchmaking on its head: The Devon Tread 1 is American-made and tells time through 2/1000th of an-inch-thin belts powered by four "microstep" motors (a technology that allows for very reliable and quiet motors in miniature). This California-made watch includes a "bulletproof" watch "crystal" made of polycarbonate and an internal battery that recharges wirelessly and runs two weeks on a single charge. Priced at $15,000. The Devon Tread 2 makes its debut at the Baselworld 2012 and officially rolls out in June.

URWERK UR-203. The Geneva-based design team of Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei limited the UR-203's special edition to 20 black platinum watches. A patented system couples orbiting and revolving hour satellites with a telescopic minute hand that pops in and out to indicate the minutes on a linear display at the dial's base. A 150-year Horological Odometer reveals how old the watch is; an "oil-change indicator" signals when the watch is due for service. The winding system is the first-ever regulated by fluid dynamics; twin miniature turbines drive it all. "So much work has gone into something so simple, making it so complicated," says Boston. Price: $255,000.

CABESTAN WINCH TOURBILLON VERTICAL. The original Cabestan Winch's designer, Jean-François Ruchonnet, was inspired by yachting's capstan (a drum on a vertical axis, hand-operated by a lever to winch a rope around the drum), when he coupled a fusée (a watchmaker's cone-shaped pulley) and a chain movement with four drums. Today's version of the watch has 809 components, including a tiny 235-link chain. Production: 135 pieces. "It's retro-futuristic," says Boston. "This watch looks like it could have been invented a hundred years ago." Price: 360,000 euros ($468,000).